New David Bowie Demos Collection with Unreleased Tracks Coming in June

By
Jas C
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David Bowie in 1983. Photo by Nils Jorgensen/REX/Shutterstock (99151e)

A fresh new batch of previously unheard David Bowie music is coming our way. Parlophone announced that a collection of Bowie’s demos, which will feature nine previously unreleased tracks, will be released on June 28th.

Titled The Mercury Demos, the collection contains 10 songs, including an early version of “Space Oddity,” that have been recorded in 1969 in David Bowie’s flat. The late musician is featured on vocals, guitar, and Stylophone on the tracks while Bowie’s early collaborator John “Hutch” Hutchinson is also featured on the song with vocals and guitar.

The Mercury Demos  comes in a replica of the original tape box and will feature “one mono 33 1/3 RPM vinyl, one print, two photo contact sheets, and sleeve notes by Mark Adams.” Check out the content of the collection and tracklist below.

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MERCURY DEMOS LP BOX DUE IN JUNE “I recall how we lived on the corner of a bed…” As part of the ongoing Space Oddity 50 celebrations and following the recent Spying Through A Keyhole and Clareville Grove Demos collections, Parlophone is releasing a further set of recordings known as The ‘Mercury’ Demos on 28th June 2019. The ‘Mercury’ Demos are 10 early Bowie recordings captured live in one take to a Revox reel to reel tape machine in David’s flat in spring 1969, with Bowie on vocals, guitar and Stylophone and with accompaniment from John ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson on guitar and vocals. The version of ‘Space Oddity’ from the Demos, originally released with edits on the S&V box, is presented here in its true context for the first time. The other recordings on the album are all previously unreleased. In addition to Bowie originals, the session also includes the Roger Bunn’s Life Is A Circus (which features as an earlier demo version on the Clareville Grove Demos set) and the Lesley Duncan composition, Love Song, later recorded by Elton John for his Tumbleweed Connection album. David’s own Conversation Piece is announced as ‘a new song’ and Janine features a short section sung to the melody of The Beatles’ Hey Jude. The session was a document of the ‘Bowie & Hutch’ duo’s set of the time recorded at the request of Mercury Records A&R man Calvin Mark Lee for his boss Bob Reno. Both Calvin and Bob are referenced during the 41-minute recording which was key in securing David his deal with Mercury Records. The ‘Mercury’ Demos comes in a replica of the original tape box and will feature 1 mono 33 1/3 rpm vinyl LP, a print, two photo contact sheets and sleeve notes by Mark Adams. The labels of the LP feature the same EMIDISC acetate styling as Spying Through A Keyhole and Clareville Grove Demos with the song titles in David’s own handwriting. Side 1 Space Oddity Janine An Occasional Dream Conversation Piece Ching-a-Ling I’m Not Quite (aka Letter To Hermione) Side 2 Lover To The Dawn Love Song When I’m Five Life Is A Circus #BowieTheMercuryDemos

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This won’t be the only David Bowie release we will get in the following months as another collection, titled Clareville Grove Demos, is scheduled to be released on May 17th. The collection will feature six home demos from Bowie, four of which were previously unreleased. The previously unreleased tracks are “Love to the Dawn,” “Ching-a-Ling,” “Let Me Sleep Beside You;” and a cover of  Djinn’s “Life Is a Circus.”